


we rise

by Cross_d_a



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017), The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Ahsoka Tano Lives, Dave Filoni has blessed us with the best Christmas present of all, Ezra is just out there being a badass with Thrawn and Sabine okay, Gen, I'm fitting in all my headcanons in here if it kills me, Post-Star Wars: Rebels, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers, also exCUSE me but OF COURSE Ahsoka has an apprentice, and that apprentice is little baby yoda, but also during TROS, mentions of Jacen Syndulla
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-18 02:43:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21970378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cross_d_a/pseuds/Cross_d_a
Summary: It's about legacy, it's about love. It's about the simple fact that Ahsoka will always be led by the desire to do what isright.But when Ahsoka feels that Rey needs her help, even from a galaxy away, it's mostly about Anakin.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Ezra Bridger & Ahsoka Tano, Rey & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 10
Kudos: 236





	we rise

**Author's Note:**

> So I have a lot of thoughts of what might exactly happen post-Rebels and The Mandalorian AND Filoni did just give us the best [Christmas present](https://twitter.com/dave_filoni/status/1209935123639984129/photo/1) of all (excuse me I refuse to believe Filoni can't magic his way out of Ahsoka's supposed death). I'd already been thinking of how Ahsoka might still be alive and this just fueled my need to write this little bit.

Sometimes, she wonders if she made the right choice. She’s so far away from everything she’s ever known, everyone she grew up loving. For so long, she wondered: _Should I have left? Why am I here? Is this what I should do?_

_Is this what Anakin would have wanted?_

But Ahsoka has long grown past worrying about who anyone thinks she should be, and instead she’s grown into who she truly _is._

In truth, it hasn’t made it much easier, being out of reach of the known galaxy. Out of reach of Luke and Leia and the old, aching whispers of the Jedi Temple. The last few years of growing darkness have pulled at the steady beating of her heart. It’s left this sticky, noxious residue on the back of her tongue, clung to her every footstep, slithered in the shadows of her mind, breathed its icy, rotting breath across the nape of her neck.

 _Come back come back come back,_ cries the memory of her long-dead Master, face twisted with such desperate longing and despair that it brings tears to her eyes, just as the memory of walking away from him for the first and very last time still does.

 _You have to help us we need you please_ I _need you,_ says Rex, says Fives, says _Echo_ from the most pained and joyful corners of her memory. Except her brothers are long dead and it is just the galaxy they fought for that pulls at her heart.

Ahsoka knows she _must_ be here. Out of reach of her Master’s children and the galaxy she was born in. Sometimes, she may wonder if she made the right choice, but after facing Anakin in the great Sith Temple on Malachor—

_“I won’t leave you! Not this time.”_

_“Then you will_ die.”

—after Ezra pulled her through into the World Between Worlds and she plunged headfirst back into that decrepit, ancient place full of memories and voices of those long lost— well. Ahsoka has had more than a few years alone with just her thoughts and Morai’s gentle guidance and the ghosts of things long dead. It’d been long enough to realize that she didn’t need to help everyone find the right path.

It’s only in her weakest moments that she wishes she could go back and take Anakin’s hand when he offered it to her. Though she wishes she could go back and say, _Yes. I will stay with the Order. Yes, I will stay with you Anakin and you won’t have to suffer again. You won’t have to_ die _again—_

She cannot do so, and she was never meant to stay by Anakin’s side forever. Just as she wasn’t meant to find Ezra before he saved Lothal. Just as she was never meant to guide Luke during those years of Rebellion. Both Luke and Ezra had their own paths to take, and it was not her place to shove herself into their story.

It was so difficult to remind herself of that when she felt Anakin slip into the Force all those years ago. She’d faltered, breath stuttering, eyes stinging as Anakin’s darkness shuddered and blossomed into something even more beautiful than she remembered (and Anakin had always been so beautiful in her memory). His rage and despair and deep self-loathing was tempered by an overwhelming feeling of resolve and love and _hope_.

And then she’d felt it.

Sidious’ death.

It was like she’d been drowning her entire life and she’d never even realized it. The painful ringing that had always been there was gone. The muddied depths of the Force were suddenly clean and clear, sun sparkling bright off the calm waves of the ocean, salt sharp upon her tongue, air crisp and fresh. Not even when the Jedi were all alive did it feel like— _this._

She’d fallen to her knees, tears streaming down her face as she fought to simply _breathe._

As she trembled there, gasping for breath, Anakin died.

And a part of her died with him.

He hadn’t needed her to return to the light, he hadn’t needed her at all.

 _“That’s not true,”_ Morai had whispered against her lekku, beak sharp, feathers soft along her cheek. “ _He always needed you. He wouldn’t be who he was without you, and you wouldn’t be who you are without him.”_

 _“Who he was,”_ she’d gasped. _“He became so dark and twisted. He butchered, he_ slaughtered.”

 _“And yet now he’s found himself again,”_ Morai had persisted, voice so piercing for such a kind creature. _“He’s destroyed the Sith, as he was meant to. You helped him take those first steps, as you were meant to.”_

 _“But I_ left him,” she’d wept.

_“As you were meant to.”_

_“I never got to say goodbye,”_ Ahsoka insisted. _“I never- I_ never—”

 _“You have your own life to lead,”_ Morai had said. _“Just as he had his. We are all connected through the Force. We all cross paths. We change, because we touch each other’s hearts. We forever exist in our loved ones’ memories. Anakin will always be with you, Ahsoka. Just as you shall always remain with him.”_

 _“Master,”_ she’d sobbed. “Anakin.”

She was so happy he’d clawed his way back to the light, she was so happy he’d died filled with _hope_ and _love_ and not suffering and hate—

But she _missed him._ She missed Anakin _so much._ And she hadn’t been there for him in the end.

Then there’d been a touch, a whisper of breath. Warmth along the curve of her montrals.

 _“Ahsoka,”_ Anakin had murmured, voice full of love. Full of joy.

When she’d looked up, he was gone.

But that was many, many years ago. Now, Ahsoka falls to her knees for an entirely different reason. Her lekku pool about her as she holds her breath, dives in _deep deep deeper_ than she’s ever gone before. The Force eddies about her, wild and frantic as the spirits of the Sith ravage and burn and _poison._ A whole _galaxy_ away and she can still feel the pinpricks of electricity skitter across her skin. She doesn’t stop to wonder what exactly they’re up to, she just knows she’s needed. She just knows that if she doesn’t do this _now_ then the girl— _the girl—_ will _die._

More than anything, Ahsoka can’t bear for Anakin’s legacy of love, his legacy of _freedom,_ to be for naught.

(and it’s the right thing to do)

(Ahsoka has always and shall always be led by the simple desire to do what is right)

And, by the Force, Ahsoka can _feel her._ She can _feel_ the girl reaching out into the Force. Such a tiny, powerful thing. Full of such promise, such hope. But Ahsoka can’t quite reach her, for all that she is powerful she can’t quite—

A tiny hand touches her own. Another, a larger and more weathered one, squeezes her shoulder tight. Energy and love flood through her, guiding lights in the darkness of the universe. It is just enough for her to regain her breath, to whisper:

_“Rey.”_

And then:

Anakin.

_“Bring back the balance, Rey, as I did.”_

Friends and family from too long past whisper at the edges of her thoughts. They linger in the corners of her closed eyes. They pulse through her heart and fill her lungs.

 _“In the night, find the Light,”_ Luminara urges.

 _“You’re not alone, Rey,”_ Master Windu reassures.

_“Alone, never have you been.”_

_“Every Jedi who ever lived, lives in you.”_

_“The Force surrounds you, Rey.”_

_“Let it guide you.”_

“As it guided us,” Ahsoka whispers.

_“Feel the Force flowing through you, Rey.”_

_“Let it lift you,”_ dear Kanan guides.

_“Rise, Rey.”_

_“We stand behind you, Rey.”_

_“Rey.”_

_“Rise in the Force.”_

_“The heart of a Jedi lies within you.”_

_“The strength…”_

_“Rise.”_

_“Rise.”_

_“Rey,”_ says Luke Skywalker, that sweet bright boy she met so many years ago, _“the Force will be with you, always.”_

And then—

She is falling back into steady arms as her little apprentice grips her hand tight, worry trilling along their bond.

“Ahsoka,” Ezra breathes, just as worried. “Are you alright? Did it work?”

For a moment, Ahsoka can’t say anything at all. Her heart pounds too fast between her clawed ribs, beating a bruise into her breast as she desperately tries to catch her breath. She’s never _ever_ projected herself so far, and if it weren’t for these two, she might have—

There is a shattering a _rending_ it billows out and shudders through her bones through the galaxy and _beyond._ When it reaches them, she is nearly bowed by the weight of it as seasalt freckles along her face and the waves beat against the shore a rhythm she’s heard before.

“She did it,” Ahsoka whispers. “Sidious is gone.”

Ezra collapses into her, face wet as he laughs shakily into the crook of her throat. “It- it does feel the same as then, but—”

“But nothing,” Din bites out, tension radiating out in the Force, abrasive against the new rawness of Ahsoka’s awareness. “Is that _demagolka_ gone or not?”

“Yes.”

Ahsoka opens her eyes to stare down into her apprentice’s relieved eyes. Confusion plays across his tiny wrinkled face. His eyes have always been so large, and despite the youth of his heart, he’s never looked so young.

 _“Buir,”_ her little apprentice breathes, tears spilling down his green cheeks. His large ears droop in exhaustion and relief. “He’s gone.”

Ahsoka manages to squeeze her apprentice’s hand tight before his father sweeps him into his embrace.

“Oh, _ad’ika,”_ Din just barely holds back his sob of relief, emotion so clear even through his helmet. “You’re safe you’re safe you’re finally _safe. Mar’e!”_

Ezra laughs again, freer this time. His head lolls against her shoulder and Ahsoka takes comfort in the touch. “Well, now I know why Jacen felt the Force call him home a few weeks ago. There’s no way Hera and Chopper would stay out of that fight.” His touch in the Force is tentative, but she can tell that the bond between Ezra and Kanan’s son is still as alive as ever. “He’s with her now, I think. They’re safe.”

The little Lothcat he’s managed to pick up somewhere along the way nuzzles into his knee, mewling comfort. It’s so strange how some creatures just…know. But then again, considering Morai, Ahsoka shouldn’t be so surprised.

Reaching out, Ezra lets the Lothcat press its face into his hand, snaggling a tooth along his finger. “Sabine and Thrawn will be wondering where we are,” he says tiredly. “I didn’t have time to let Eli know before we left. When we tell them— Thrawn gets so fed up with the Force. He’ll say we’ve set us back for _weeks._ He’ll be _insufferable._ ”

Shaking her head, Ahsoka says, “Thrawn will understand why it was important for us to leave. He values your judgment more than you realize.”

Ezra just hums a little, neither agreeing with her nor denying it. The Lothcat twists under his bent knee to clamber up into his lap. He lets it curl beneath his cloak.

“Ahsoka,” Ezra starts uncertainly, “Do…do you think Sidious will come back _again?”_

Ahsoka breathes deep, reaches out into the Force—

Anakin shimmers just beyond her reach. Face so young, eyes so bright. He smiles at her with all his teeth, scar crinkling upon his cheek. He winks. Flickers out, gone again.

But she knows he’ll always be there watching. He’s answered her call before, and he will answer it again.

 _“Anakin will always be with you, Ahsoka,”_ Morai had told her. _“Just as you shall always remain with him.”_

Well, she’d certainly been right about that. Despite being dead, Anakin really will never learn to keep his nose out of other people’s business. She’s grateful for that, even if he has the tendency of showing up in the middle of a game of sabacc to help Ezra cheat.

“No, Ezra,” Ahsoka says. “I don’t think Sidious will be back.”

She looks over at her little apprentice who curls into his father’s embrace. There’s a sense of found family there that calls to her with a rightness in the Force. She thinks of Ezra, of her little apprentice and his Mandalorian father. She thinks of Thrawn and Eli and Sabine and Jacen. She thinks of Rex and his brothers.

Obi-Wan.

Anakin.

Her little apprentice peers over his father’s shoulder to meet her gaze. His eyes are so strangely wise in that young face. He nods, small and nearly imperceptible. In moments like these, he truly reminds her of Yoda.

“He may be gone, Ezra,” Ahsoka sighs, “but we still have much to do.”

**Author's Note:**

> The only actual short oneshot I've ever managed to complete.


End file.
